I don't want to be an elf!

"Just keep him alive." The gang leader dusted off his hands, glanced coldly at Atsushi Nakajima, whose nose was bleeding profusely, and stuffed his wallet into his pocket.

Having received their boss's orders, the thugs, who were no good to begin with, revealed smiles of having found amusement.

They mercilessly used their fists and feet to leave bruises and bloodstains on Atsushi Nakajima's body, venting their pent-up emotions.

The powerless Nakajima Atsushi could only skillfully protect his head with his hands, curling up his body to try his best to protect his vulnerable parts.

At that moment, Kurumi Tokisaki, who was attached to the glass of the building using her spiritual power, saw everything that was happening.

"Should we help him?" Kurumi Tokisaki thought. "If this continues, someone might die."

She wasn't worried about Nakajima Atsushi being beaten to death.

【Moonlight Tiger】Atsushi Nakajima's superpower is a combat-type superpower that allows for rapid recovery. As long as he has a breath left, he can recover almost without limit.

It can even regenerate severed limbs.

Even if Nakajima Atsushi has no control over his superpowers now, and even in a state where he can't use them at all, his resilience and recovery ability far exceed those of ordinary people.

Even if a group of thugs ganged up on him and broke his bones, he could sleep it off tonight and wake up the next day feeling perfectly fine.

Kurumi Tokisaki's concern was that Atsushi Nakajima's powers would go berserk and kill all the thugs.

Atsushi Nakajima may not kill people, but that doesn't mean Torato Tsukishima won't.

People with superpowers are born with the ability to control their abilities, and the nature of their abilities is somewhat related to their personality.

However, Atsushi Nakajima is an exception.

Despite possessing the extraordinary abilities of a tiger, the king of beasts, Nakajima Atsushi's personality should have been arrogant and conceited, just like a tiger that reigns supreme in the mountains.

However, his experience of being abused while living in the welfare home made the young man timid and cowardly.

The people with superpowers gradually drifted to two extremes, resulting in him not only being unable to control his own superpowers, but also not even knowing that superpowers existed before joining the Armed Detective Agency.

Thus, the Tiger Under the Moon developed its own consciousness.

The ability, which should have been a unity of human and tiger, was separated from Nakajima Atsushi due to his unconscious resistance.

It watched over Atsushi Nakajima's life in the orphanage through his eyes.

No one knew that within the insecure Nakajima Atsushi's body lurked an arrogant tiger under the moon.

Whenever the moonlight falls, or when Atsushi Nakajima is in deep crisis, the Moonlit Tiger will possess his body, transforming into a white tiger to vent his anger and dissatisfaction.

This was the direct reason why the orphanage where he used to live kicked him out.

Kurumi Tokisaki looked up at the sky, gazing at the crescent moon in the night sky, and muttered to herself, "Both conditions are met, so I should be able to witness the White Tiger's splendor tonight."

As soon as he finished speaking, several blue rings appeared out of thin air on Atsushi Nakajima's body.

The thugs who were beating him stopped. They didn't know what had happened, but their instinct to seek advantage and avoid harm made them cautiously take a few steps back.

"what happens?"

The gang leader standing to the side was also a little confused, but the next moment he suddenly remembered what Nakajima Atsushi had said earlier, and his face immediately darkened.

Atsushi Nakajima's already dulled consciousness due to pain became even slower, as if something enormous had squeezed into his mind, taking his place and rendering him unable to think.

"Roar!"

Even he himself didn't notice that a beast-like roar came from his throat, and his whole body changed as the blue halo appeared.

Under the influence of the halo, the arms, which were so thin they looked like they would break at the slightest touch, transformed into thick, black-striped, white-fur tiger claws, and the frail body seemed to mutate and grow in size layer by layer.

"Sizzle------!"

Clothes made of ordinary fabric could no longer withstand the pressure and tore apart under the surging muscles, turning into strips of cloth that fell to the ground.

The gang leader's eyelids twitched wildly. He raised his hand like a blade and struck Nakajima Atsushi hard on the back of the head, trying to knock him unconscious.

However, Atsushi Nakajima's consciousness had already stalled the moment the halo appeared, so how could he have been knocked unconscious?

The tiger's orange-yellow eyes snapped upwards instantly.

The wind and waves seemed to have materialized, blowing all the thugs around them away, leaving them sprawling on the ground in a sorry state.

"roar-----!"

A majestic white tiger appeared under the moonlight, roaring to the sky, its brilliance reflecting in the silvery moonlight.

Chapter Thirty: Standoff

This guy actually is a superhuman!

The appearance of the tiger under the moon shattered the last glimmer of hope in the gang leader's heart, and the majestic and domineering white tiger form made him tremble with fear.

The fur fluttering in the wind, the claws gleaming in the moonlight, and the fierce, menacing eyes unique to a beast...

The white tiger before my eyes is not an illusion, but a real wild beast!

When those beastly eyes fixed on him, the gang leader almost peed his pants in fear.

The other thugs' legs went weak, and their smug expressions from a moment ago were gone, replaced by surprise, uncertainty, fear, and unease.

They had nowhere to escape.

In order to better extort money from Atsushi Nakajima, the thugs deliberately led him into this deserted dead-end alley.

Now, this dead-end alley, which was supposed to prevent Atsushi Nakajima from escaping, has become a cage trapping them.

Although his whole body was covered in goosebumps, the ruthlessness he had developed from years of street life still gave the gang leader a ferocious, death-defying look.

"It's just a big cat, guys, let's slide tackle..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yuexiahu raised his tiger paw, which was as big as a pot, and slammed the nearest thug against the wall.

"what!"

With a scream, the thug fell to the ground and lay motionless.

Although there were no broken bones or even any bleeding, he was either playing dead or had fainted from fright, but the scene still made everyone else turn pale.

They were just ordinary people without any special abilities, at most they were just a little stronger and more ruthless than ordinary people, but this little bit of strength and ruthlessness was no different from that of Yuexia Hu.

Just as the thugs were racking their brains to find a way to escape, whether it was a hallucination or fear, their vision seemed to turn scarlet.

His limbs became weak and his mind became sluggish. Even though he was in a life-or-death situation confronting a ferocious beast, and at the moment when he needed to keep his mind calm the most, sleepiness kept coming over him like a tide.

“Tick…tick…tick…”

The sound of leather shoes hitting the ground came from behind, getting closer and closer.

But there's a dead end behind me, so why are there footsteps coming from there?

With his last ounce of strength, the gang leader turned his head and collapsed. Before he fell, a young girl in a gorgeous long dress slowly emerged from the darkness.

He seemed to feel his body sinking deeper and deeper, half of his vision turning into an intense, impenetrable darkness, like hell itself.

Tonight, Kurumi Tokisaki only dabbled in the lives of all the residents of Yokohama, absorbing only a negligible amount of time.

But she had no reason to hold back against these social scum.

They devoured all their time, then dragged them into the shadow space to destroy all traces.

Thus, in the narrow dead end, only the white tiger, gleaming in the moonlight, and the nightmare slowly emerging from the darkness remained.

"Roar......"

The tiger's wild instincts alerted it to a threat. It stared intently at the woman with the distinctive scent before it and let out a low growl.

As Atsushi Nakajima's "second personality," Tiger Under the Moon naturally possesses intelligence no less than that of the original, and cannot be fathomed by the standards of an ordinary wild beast.

It can treat those hooligans like a cat toying with mice, but it has to be wary of this mysterious woman.

Because of different levels.

"Nice to meet you, Tiger."

Facing a beast that was almost three times her size, Tokisaki Kurumi did not treat it like a wild animal. Instead, she bowed gracefully as if it were a person and said, "You may call me Nightmare. From now on, I will replace Akutagawa Ryunosuke as the one who captures you."

Ryunosuke Akutagawa!

Tiger Under the Moon knows this name. It shares memories with Atsushi Nakajima and can see everything Atsushi sees, so it naturally knows who Ryunosuke Akutagawa is.

As a proud tiger, although it was not afraid of the infamous barking mad dog, the threat posed by Ryunosuke Akutagawa could not be ignored.

If it hadn't repeatedly lent power to Atsushi Nakajima, or directly appeared to rescue him, Atsushi Nakajima would have been captured by Ryunosuke Akutagawa long ago.

If this woman was there to capture it on behalf of Ryunosuke Akutagawa, that only means one thing.

This woman, who calls herself Nightmare, is stronger than Ryunosuke Akutagawa.

Under the moonlight, the tiger crouched low, revealing its sharp fangs, and let out a series of threatening growls.

"There's no need to be so hostile. I was just passing by tonight and stopped by to say hello."

Although the other party clearly didn't like her, Kurumi Tokisaki's smile didn't diminish: "Look, as a greeting gift, didn't I clean up those rats that were bothering you?"

Upon hearing this, Yuexiahu looked around and confirmed that the thugs lying on the ground had indeed disappeared.

Kurumi Tokisaki was right; she did indeed do him a favor.

The reason it appeared tonight was not to protect Atsushi Nakajima from the thugs. Tsukishima Tiger had absolutely no affection for its master personality and would only watch coldly no matter how miserable Atsushi Nakajima was.

Hunger, cold, loneliness—Nakajima Atsushi endured these hardships throughout his time at the orphanage, but Tsukishita Torato never offered a helping hand.

It hates weak creatures.

Therefore, it will feel genuine anger when a weak creature provokes it.

It aims to teach these thugs a lesson.

Although it is a wild tiger, it is ultimately a second personality born from Atsushi Nakajima, which prevents it from easily committing murder.

The fact that it had already shown mercy by slapping the thug against the wall was already a mercy; otherwise, it could have easily used its incredibly sharp claws to cut the thug in half.

You can't kill him, but beating him half to death should be okay, right?

Unfortunately, that doesn't work either.

As a member of the Armed Detective Agency, Atsushi Nakajima's every word and action represents the agency's public image.

If the thugs report that Nakajima Atsushi has beaten someone half to death because of his superpower going berserk, and the police report it to the government, Nakajima Atsushi could very well be forcibly imprisoned by the state for being unable to control his superpower.

It's not acceptable to kill them or cripple them.